Anteater Academy

 100% HS Graduation Rate

90% Accepted into a 4-year university

62% Accepted into a UC or selective/elite Private University

The Anteater Academy was created at Valley HS to increase the number of students that were being accepted to and attending four-year universities.  In 2012 when the program was created, 40 total students at Valley attended a four-year university and out of those, 11 of them attended a University of California campus.  

Many programs, teams, teachers, and in particular the counseling/Ms. Gibbs have existed and been successful at Valley for many years and deserve lots of credit and recognition for their contribution to these students’ success.

Anteater students are members of the Valley HS Inc academies, AVID, NAC, sports teams, VAPA programs, ASB, Boys and Girls Club, UCI EAOP, among many others.

Where the Anteaters are going (Class of 2017, 2016, 2015)

Valley HS Anteater Academy Class of 2015

Below is a summary of the results of the Anteater Academy’s first graduating seniors, the class of 2015 which had historically great college acceptances.

Anteater Academy College Acceptances (77 total students)

73 accepted into a four-year university (95%)

50 accepted into a UC/Pac-12/Cal Poly-STEM/Ivy (65%)

Valley HS College Acceptances

153 accepted into a four-year university

72 accepted into a UC/Pac-12/Cal Poly

The year the Anteater program was created in 2012, 11 total students at Valley attended a UC and 40 Valley students attended a four-year university. The results above show the stark contrast!

The increase of college acceptances in 2015 occurred school wide and not just within the Anteater program which shows its impact on the college culture at the school

Student growth:

Many of these students have exhibited great growth and were not always such fantastic students and people.  There are plenty of examples of this but I want to focus on the student that I feel has grown the most.   Ana Karen Herrera was a freshmen in a math support class, and is now attending UCI and planning on majoring in engineering.  Ana is well recognized at Valley as one of the hardest working and most deserving students.  She was the winner of the counseling center’s Soroptimist award, the science departments Principal’s Medallion, Mr. Valdez’ counselor’s award, and many other recognitions.  As her Calculus teacher, I awarded her with an award for being the very best Calculus student during the first semester.  These achievements are particularly noteworthy considering her math level as a freshman.

GATES Millennium, scholarships, and recognition:

Cesar Ibarra and Yerik Macias won the most prestigious and financially beneficial scholarship, the GATES Millennium Scholarship which pays for all of their college expenses.  Most students won a scholarship of some kind with many others getting full rides, including Yvette Sanchez to Berkeley and Alejandro Flores to UCLA.

UC Irvine and their EAOP center recently commented that the Anteater Academy has dramatically increased the number of college acceptances at Valley and is working on producing a publication.  At a recent event at Santa Ana HS with the president of the UC system, the president mentioned the Anteater Academy as a great local program that helps students get into college.  To see this, visit https://vimeo.com/128524255 and go to the 13:00 mark .